Flint River War
The Flint River War was a conflict fought between the industrial settlement known as The Foundry and the organised raider group known as the Exaxes Warband, along with their allies in the Flint River region of Michigan. The conflict was aimed at capturing the Foundry and bringing it under the Exaxes control which, in turn, would ensure their supremacy over the other Decimator warbands. Instead, the Exaxes were defeated and their allies scattered. Background The Flint River region Heavily industrialised and polluted before the Great War, the Flint River had become only more so in its aftermath. Tainted by toxic and radioactive runoff, it still was sought after as s source of water. The result was a number of settlements, many of which were based in the ruins of pre-war community, that clung to the river. Conflict was commonplace as those groups fought over water and whatever other resources they could find, locking the region in a never-ending cycle of poverty and violence. The early 2280s bought a measure of stability to the region after a fashion. The formation of The Foundry created a single large community in the river wastes, one that was more powerful than any other in the region. While the Foundry did not appear interested in wiping out the others, they also were hoarding clean water and food that was otherwise in short supply, creating an air of mistrust and resentment. No one group could stand against it, but at the same time, none were willing to form an alliance with any others to try to bring down the Foundry, the results of generations of violence and mistrust. The Foundry The Foundry had been created in 2279 by a group of armed soldiers. Arriving from outside the Flint River region (and with their exact origins unknown), they overthrew Mad Mabel, the then ruler of the partially ruined city of Flint. Rallying the people of the city behind them, the leader of these soldiers, an enigmatic figure in a suit of power armour, promised them security and safety in exchange for their loyalty. Over the next few months, Flint was fortified and renamed the Foundry. Under the rule of the Forgemaster (as the enigmatic figure called themselves), the Foundry bought a measure of safety and stability to its people. Using the labour available to them, the city’ leaders repurposed and restarted a number of its previously inert factories. Knowing that the nearby Detroit Wasteland was also torn by conflict, the Foundry began producing weapons to sell to its various group in exchange for food and other supplies. In doing such, the Foundry developed a loose alliance with the militant force known as the Army of Revolution who became their biggest trading partner. Exaxes Warband Even though the Exaxes had been the catalyst for the revitalisation of the Decimators, the warband had been somewhat left behind in their revival. The Exaxes were still seen as a fringe group, and while their technological prowess was impressive, the Decimators as a whole still emphasised physical and martial prowess over all else. Their leader, Exaxes (IV) sought to overcome this issue by proving his warband to be a capable military power, but at the same time, was careful to avoid the poorly thought out campaigns that had bought down the Decimax and Tigon Warbands. However, an opportunity had presented itself that lay outside of the Decimators’ traditional territories. For the last two years, the Exaxes had been receiving reports about the Foundry, a community located along the Flint River in Michigan. Supposedly a centre for heavy industry and technology, the Foundry sounded like an idea target. Capturing it would give the Exaxes access to technology and machinery that would allow them to not only increase their military power, but also come closer to their goals of technological singularity. Ghoul Liberation Army Created by Trenton Dingler, the Ghoul Liberation Army had been raised with the ideal of creating an independent Ghoul homeland in the Flint River region. However, much of this was born from Dingler’s desire for a personal power-grab more than any ideology or sense of solidarity. Dingler, himself a refugee from Minnesota, had tried building similar communities in past, and each of them had backfired on him. The formation of the Foundry had seen a number of Ghouls flock to Dinger’s cause, driven by their humano-centric agenda. That many of these individuals were the former warlords of Flint who preyed on those people just trying to survive did not seem to matter to Dingler, as he instead used the Foundry’s actions to energise his supporters and create an enemy. However, his force lacked the strength to attack the fortress, let alone penetrate its walls. History Prelude In preparation for their invasion of the Foundry, the Exaxes sent scouts to the region to survey it and determine just what lay ahead of them. Their initial reports were not encouraging. The defences around the Foundry were greater than anything they had encountered in Minnesota, and the Foundry seemed to have developed a substantial military force in the short time since its founding. While their robots might be able to breach the defences, the Exaxes would not have the strength to take the Foundry alone without relocating their entire force. Wary of repeating the same mistakes that bought down prior warbands, Exaxes (IV) looked around for other solutons. They found what they were looking for in the various other groups that inhabited the region. The formation of the Foundry had created a bloc of disaffected groups who all hated the new settlement for any number of reasons (humano-centric policies, their monopoly of the clean water supply, their aggressive scavenging bands and so on), but had been unable to come together on their own accord to bring it down. None of them had the capability to defeat its fortifications or overcome its army, and none of them trusted (or even liked) each other. Given time, they would have likely ground each other down before they made any headway against the Foundry. Exaxes sent out ambassadors to some of the other communities along the river, offering them an alternative. He sold them on the idea of forming a collation to defeat the Foundry, with their numbers supplemented by the Exaxes' soldiers and robots. He built on the not inconsiderable resentment against the Foundry, sweetening the deal with 'gifts' of technological items and imported clean water. Those parties they approached were generally responsive, although they still rankled at the idea of working with each other. Dingler proved to be especially problematic, given that he had encountered the Decimators in past, and had no love for the raider bands. Eventually, however, pragmatism (and no small measure of greed) won out over ideology and distrust. The various groups knew that the Exaxes were the only chance they had of displacing the Foundry and seizing power for themselves. The result was that the Warband was able to build a shaky coalition, one that was based more on a mutual shared enemy then any actual spirit of trust and cooperation. Of course, the Exaxes never had any intention of sharing power; however, they knew that once the Foundry was theirs, they could easily eliminate their surviving allies. Dingler in particular saw this as being an opportunity, and helped sell the matter to the other groups. At the same time he also was pushing it to his followers as one of convenience that would serve to eliminate the greatest threat to their safety while furthering their own goals. He made it clear that he had no love either for the Exaxes or their other allies, but that he would "play along" with them for as long as it was convenient for them. By talking up the threat of the Forge, he was able to soothe tensions and defuse concerns about this alliance while painting himself as being a genius for playing the Exaxes to his own ends. By 2284, the Foundry was the dominant power in the Flint River area, its power as unassailable as its walls. None of the groups in the area had the manpower, the technology or the firepower to defeat its defences and its armies. The Foundry held itself aloof from the rest of the conflict in the region, content to let the Ghouls, Raiders and Super Mutants of the region batter each other to death. The Forgemaster had no interest in conquering the polluted, war-torn area, but rather wanted to ensure its own security. The arrival of the Exaxes Warband in the region upset this balance of power. While Decimator warband did not have the numbers to overcome the Foundry's defences, they did represent a powerful and well-equipped threat, especially given the augmentation of their forces with robots. While the Forgemaster did not see the Exaxes as an immediate threat, they still kept a wary eye on the raider band. However, they were not aware of the full extent of the Exaxes' plans, nor of their alliance. Through late 2283, the Exaxes began a build-up of their forces in their outpost of Machine’s Reach, located in the Flint River region. The large structure served to conceal just how large their force was and how well equipped they were with Robots and other advanced weapons. At the same time, they were helping to train their allies and drill them into some sort of competent fighting force. Despite their best efforts, cohesion remained low as many of their coalition refused to work with their partners and instead chose only to interact through the Exaxes. While frustrating, this outcome was also expected, with the Exaxes fully intending to use their allies as cannon fodder in the upcoming conflict. Initial Push The Flint River War proper commenced in March 2284 (not 2285, as is sometimes mistakenly reported) as forces from the Exaxes and their collation struck out across the region. Their initial targets were primarily Foundry outposts, ones that had been established to demarcate their territory while also supporting their activities in the Flint River region. Most of these attacks were swift and one-sided with the Foundry’s forces being either destroyed or driven back. The Exaxes’ robots proved to be particularly effective in these opening clashes, with the Foundry often having no counter to their capabilities. With the initial outposts destroyed, the coalition moved on to their secondary targets. Foundry scavenging crews were a common site in the Flint River region, collecting raw materials for their factories. These groups were usually protected by Foundry military groups, and had the outposts to serve as a layer of warning against any hostile activity. Now they came under direct attack, again usually outnumbered by the invading forces. Most of these groups fell with only minimal resistance, allowing the Exaxes to harvest their scavenged bounties while claiming their territories. As a follow-on, the invading forces also disrupted the trade caravans that ran through the region between the Foundry and their trading partners, denying even more resources to them. While the Foundry had been wary of this growing threat, they also were not prepared for just how large a force the Exaxes had assembled. There was also no small degree of arrogance in their assessments of the threat these forces represented, with many within the foundry dismissing a rag-tag collection of raiders and scavengers a being of no real concern. These assumptions seemed especially short-sighted, given the past of the Foundry’s leadership. The Forgemaster did their best to rally their forces, reinforcing their front lines while also ensuring the security of their supply routes. Digging in, their forces managed to slow the Exaxes-lead advance, but not halting it entirely. While the Foundry's forces were well organised and reasonably well trained, as well as consistently armed, their opponents had the advantage of the sheer weight of numbers as well as the advanced weaponry and technology available to the Exaxes. Several within the Foundry’s inner circle, chief among them Bruno Sondheim, suggested contacting their allies, the Army of Revolution, for aid. The Forgemaster dismissed this motion, noting that the Army had just begun its own war of conquest, and would be in no position to aid them. Privately, the Forgemaster also wished to avoid becoming too deeply entangled with the Revolutionaries, lest they try to take control of the Foundry or force it into their wars. Instead, they remained confident that they could defeat this invasion themselves. (As an unexpected side effect of the conflict, the disruption of the regular flow of manufactured and refurbished firearms from the Foundry to the Army of Revolution may have been a factor in their defeat, albeit a minor one) Summer Siege While they had lost ground during the initial push, the Foundry was far from defeated. The city itself remained well behind the frontlines for the now, leaving it secure for the moment. However, the disruption to the Foundry’s activities would have an impact eventually, and the Forgemaster was well aware that they could not hold out against these attackers forever. And while the Foundry’s army boasted a better average quality of soldier, the weight of numbers favoured the attackers, especially given the support they were receiving from the Exaxes’ robots. Not willing to risk the enemy getting too close to the city, the Forgemaster sent reinforcements to their front lines, doing their best to slow the advance of the Exaxes and their allies. In many cases, these outposts still fell, but the pace at which the Exaxes were able to advance had slowed to a crawl as the battles were now lasting longer and taking a much higher toll. Furthermore, as the Foundry’s retreat became more organised, their troops were doing their best to boobytrap whatever they left behind or simply to destroy it in order to deny the enemy any resources they could claim from their conquests. Biding their time, the Foundry’s soldiers pulled back into the ruins of Flint that remained outside of the Foundry’s walls. This allowed them to contract their supply line, while also giving them the advantage of familiar territory. The ruins outside the wall had been reinforced with towers, bunkers, supply caches and so on, allowing the Foundry’s army to use them to slow the enemy advance. The Exaxes crashed up against these defences, forced to slowly clean them out building by building, slowing their advance to a crawl. To make matters worse, the broken urban ruins proved to be poor terrain for the Exaxes’ heavier robots, robbing them of their best weapon to use against the attackers. Days turned into weeks and then months as the Exaxes and their allies were forced into a slow, grinding attrition campaign in order to advance. With the Exaxes unable to call up fresh troops from their Minnesota homelands, they were forced to put more and more pressure on their allies to carry the fighting. This resulted in plummeting morale, as the less capable GLA, Wastor and other forces were thrown into the meat grinder, often suffering horrible casualties in the process. Other factors added to the stresses on the attacking forces. Not every group in the Flint River had joined the Exaxes’ alliance, and now some of them were seeking to take advantage of the situation. Attacks by raiders, scavengers and even Super Mutants increased as they preyed on outposts that had been denuded of their defences in order to feed the frontlines. Other targets of opportunity also presented themselves, like supply trains and troop movements, further hampering Exaxes’ efforts. Conversely, having compacted their lines back to the area immediately around the Foundry, the Forgemaster had protected themselves from exposure to such attacks. At the Walls By August of 2284 the Exaxes and their allies had beaten the Foundry’s forces back almost to the city’s walls. However, in doing such, they had pushed their allies almost to the point of collapse, with high losses and exhaustion becoming commonplace. Exaxes (IV) could not afford to let the campaign go on too much longer lest he risk the complete collapse of his forces. Time was also a factor, as he expected the arrival of Autumn to turn the region into a muddy quagmire that would further stifle movements. On top of that, there was the simple reality that he needed a victory soon in order to win support for the next Convention, scheduled for 2285. Inside the walls the Forgemaster knew that they could not hold out forever. The disruption of trade had compromised the Foundry’s food supply, leaving them functioning on strict rationing. The disruption of trade and scavenging operations also had impaired their supply of raw materials, reducing the production of new weapons, ammunition, armour and other war material to a crawl. With no possibility of relief, the Forgemaster began to consider taking drastic action to break the siege. Fortunately for them, the situation among the attackers proved to be degenerating faster. Realising that he was reaching a do-or-die sage of the campaign, Exaxes and his lieutenants devised a new plan to end the conflict. By this point, they were nearly at the Foundry’s gates, but the city’s walls presented a massive obstacle. While some of their heavier robots could be used to break it down, on their own and unsupported those robots would be vulnerable and could be picked off by enemy forces. On the other hand, he still had access to a fair number of expendable warm bodies to use against the enemy fortifications. In early August 2284, Dingler and several other leaders were called to task by Exaxes (VI). The Decimator Warcheif revealed his plans for a new offensive, aimed at driving to the Foundry's gates. This offensive would be lead by his collected allies, which Dingler quickly assessed to mean that they would also be taking the bulk of the casualties. This caught him in a bind; while he knew that the Ghoul Liberation Army were being used as bait, he couldn't afford to pull out of the alliance and admitting his mistake. Reluctantly, he agreed to support the offensive, then immediately turned around and tried to sell it to his followers as an opportunity for a glorious victory. The new offensive launched on the 10th of August, aimed at breaching the gates of the Foundry. The first wave of troops, principally made up of GLA and Wastor soldiers, encountered only scattered resistance from Foundry holdouts, and suffered only relatively light casualties. Seeing their way open, Exaxes (IV) ordered their heavy units forward to breach the gates and gain entrance to the city proper. Instead as they reached the gates, the attacking force came under fire from Foundry soldiers and turrets on the walls. Supported with heavy weapons, the attackers deliberately targeted the robots first, destroying or disabling a number of them while also pinning down the human forces. Moments later, a second wave of Foundry attackers, including the Forgemaster themselves, emerged from the ruins around the fortifications, flanking the Exaxes thrust. Caught in a crossfire and suffering heavy casualties, the front ranks of the invading force collapsed into chaos. Both the GLA and Wastor forces tried to break out of the trap, abandoning their allies (and each other) ad instead focusing on keeping themselves alive. With their front lines collapsing, the Exaxes were caught in the middle and became the focus of the Foundry’s aggressions. Having already lost a number of their robots, they started taking further flesh and blood casualties as they could no longer use their allies as shields. Seeing a chance to end the conflict for good, the Forgemaster’s army engaged in a dogged pursuit of the retreating forces, hounding them across the Flint River region for several days. The goal of these attacks was not to gain territory (Although the Foundry did reclaim its pre-war holdings), but rather to harry their enemy and further degrade their effectiveness in order to prevent them from regrouping. This strategy was effective. By the end of August, the Exaxes had pulled back all the way to their staging ground at Machine's Reach having effectively abandoned their allies. The GLA, by comparison, had broken and gone to ground with Dingler believed to be dead. On the other side, the Wastors had lost command coherence and splintered into smaller groups that would never reunify. Many of the other groups were either destroyed utterly or fell apart under heavy losses that reduced them past the point of viability. The Flint River war was over, although the threat was far from ended. Despite the Forgemaster’s efforts, the Exaxes maintained a foothold in the region and showed no sign of withdrawing for the time being. However, the other forces of the region had been effectively destroyed or disbanded, preventing them from representing a significant threat to the Foundry. Aftermath The Foundry On paper, at least the Foundry left the war in more or less the same situation it entered it. Overall, it regained all the territories that it lost, and the city’s walls had never been breached. However, that victory had not been without cost. The Foundry’s army had suffered considerable casualties along the way, especially in its efforts to pull the invading force into a long, drawn-out stalemate. Those losses had to be made up, which meant pulling workers out form the assembly lines, disrupting production. Added to this, the war had caused considerable disruption to their activities. The loss of scavenging crews had impacted production, as had the disruption of their trade routes to the Detroit Wastelands and other communities. On top of that, the disruption of trade had also strangled the Foundry’s food supply. At the end of the campaign, the Forgemaster’s decision to ambush the invading forces was based as much on the need to defeat he enemy as the fact that their food reserves were critically low. Overall, the Foundry increased its power and influence over the region not through any actions of its own but rather through the losses its opponents had suffered. Its scavenging crews, patrols, trade caravans and other activities outside the city walls were resumed, but now faced fewer threats from raiders and other groups intent on disrupting them. Exaxes Warband The Exaxes Warband gained nothing from the conflict, and instead suffered considerable longterm setbacks. The goal of the war had been to capture the Foundry, along with the technological and manufacturing capabilities it contained in order to bolster their place and stance among the other Decimator Warbands. Instead they had suffered considerable losses in terms of manpower and equipment, which served to only further marginalise them. The 2285 Decimator Convention returned Vexar to power as the prime warband, while Exaxes was humiliated by their poor performance and failed to even garner a nomination. Despite their losses, the Exaxes chose to maintain their outpost at Machine’s Reach on the Flint River. In many ways, abandoning the post would be taken as a bigger sign of weakness from the other Decimators, which would serve to only further undercut their position. Instead, Exaxes intended to use the outpost to scout the Michigan area, specifically the Detroit Wasteland, for usable technology to offset some of their losses. Even then, their numbers at the outpost were reduced. Ghoul Liberation Army The GLA was functionally destroyed in the battle for the Foundry. Two thirds of its strength were killed in the battle, with its leader, Trenton Dingler, believed to be among them. Dingler had in fact survived by running and hiding at the first opportunity, and his ‘miraculous’ return from the dead did little to restore his tarnished image. Many saw Dingler as having sold them out to the Exaxes in exchange for bolstering his own personal powerbase while condemning them to death as expendable cannon fodder soldiers. The leaders of New Ghoulsberg did their best to distance themselves from the fiasco. The GLA was welcomed back into the community, and most of its members folded into their self-defence force. DIngler was one of the few exceptions, and was made into a scapegoat by a community that was not willing to admit just how far and readily they had supported him. He was exiled from the community, allegedly in the name of promoting stability while also being touted as an act of mercy intended to give the community’s leaders some sort of moral high ground. Category:History Category:Michigan